Among the latest group of Grand Prix agency winners at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity were: R/GA New York and Volontaire, Stockholm, which each earned Cyber Grand Prix honors; Serviceplan, Munich, which copped the Design Grand Prix; and 72andSunny, Amsterdam, which earned the Press Grand Prix.
The latter came for United Colors of Benetton’s controversial “Unhate” campaign, specifically the spots “Paslestine & Israel,” “U.S. & Venezuela,” and “Germany & France,” each showing the leaders of those countries kissing one another on the lips. “U.S. & Venezuela,” for example, showed Presidents Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez locking lips.
Meanwhile R/GA garnered its Cyber Grand Prix for “Nike+ Fuel Band.” The genesis came two y ears ago when Nike presented R/GA with the idea of a device that tracks your daily activity and a common, universal metric called Fuel for every active body out there. They asked R/GA to design the entire user experience. The agency ensured ease of use: set your goal, and get from red to green. If you meet your goal, animations celebrate your performance. Hit a streak and Fuelie shows up to cheer you on. Data visualizations show where you were most active daily, weekly, monthly, and beyond. R/GA created Bluetooth synch technology so when you finish your day, your Fuel is wireless synced to the platform. NikeFuel levels the playing field, and fits into your life.
As for Volontaire’s Cyber Grand Prix recipient, the honor went to Swedish Institute/Visit Sweden’s “Curators of Sweden.”
The concept called for Sweden to become the first country to let go of an official communication channel and hand it over to its citizens. Ordinary Swedes are @sweden one week at a time. Tweet by tweet, the image of Sweden is built: dynamic, innovative and deeply human. The initiative drew 26,000 followers from 120 countries in six weeks. Real interaction, thousands of conversations. The project inspired 21 countries and cities to do the same and was featured in major media globally for a PR value of more than $19.8 million.
And winning the Design Grand Prix was Munich agency Serviceplan for Austria Solar’s “The Solar Annual Report 2011.” The entry was a printed annual report that could only be read under sunlight. Therefore, the most challenging part was to determine the right mixing ratio of the photochromatic colors, in order to render the report all white under artificial light. After much experimentation, the right amount of environmentally friendly photochromatic colors were deployed so that nothing could be seen without UV exposure. The remarkable presentation underscored Austria Solar as an innovative organization.
Martin Scorsese On “The Saints,” Faith In Filmmaking and His Next Movie
When Martin Scorsese was a child growing up in New York's Little Italy, he would gaze up at the figures he saw around St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. "Who are these people? What is a saint?" Scorsese recalls. "The minute I walk out the door of the cathedral and I don't see any saints. I saw people trying to behave well within a world that was very primal and oppressed by organized crime. As a child, you wonder about the saints: Are they human?" For decades, Scorsese has pondered a project dedicated to the saints. Now, he's finally realized it in "Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints," an eight-part docudrama series debuting Sunday on Fox Nation, the streaming service from Fox News Media. The one-hour episodes, written by Kent Jones and directed by Elizabeth Chomko, each chronicle a saint: Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene, Moses the Black, Sebastian and Maximillian Kolbe. Joan of Arc kicks off the series on Sunday, with three weekly installments to follow; the last four will stream closer to Easter next year. In naturalistic reenactments followed by brief Scorsese-led discussions with experts, "The Saints" emphasizes that, yes, the saints were very human. They were flawed, imperfect people, which, to Scorsese, only heightens their great sacrifices and gestures of compassion. The Polish priest Kolbe, for example, helped spread antisemitism before, during WWII, sheltering Jews and, ultimately, volunteering to die in the place of a man who had been condemned at Auschwitz. Scorsese, who turns 82 on Sunday, recently met for an interview not long after returning from a trip to his grandfather's hometown in Sicily. He was made an honorary citizen and the experience was still lingering in his mind. Remarks have... Read More